site.btaEmployers, Trade Unions Protest Sale of Victoria Bank Loans

Employers, Trade Unions Protest Sale of Victoria Bank Loans

Sofia, October 30 (BTA) - In a joint statement on Tuesday,
employer and trade union organizations reacted to reports in
Kapital Daily and dnevnik.bg that loans at Victoria Commercial
Bank, former Credit Agricole Bulgaria, are sold.

The organizations voice concern that such irreversible
transactions may hamper the bank's efforts to resume operation,
before authorities decide on its fate and without any
estimations about the projected revenues and a recovery plan.
They are also disconcerted with the news that legal entities
which are not banking institutions have been invited to
participate in the sale.

According to the social partners, this constitutes a violation
of the Credit Institutions Act, because the sale of loans is not
a recovery but a winding-up procedure in what they say is a
deliberate plan.

The social partners urge the Bulgarian National Bank to
immediately come up with a position on the actions of the bank's
administrators. In case the central bank supports the bank's
administrators or refrains from issuing a position, they
threaten to demand central bank governor Ivan Iskrov's
resignation.

The statement has been signed by the Association of Industrial
Capital in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Industrial Association, the
Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of
Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, the Confederation of
Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria and the Podkrepa Labour
Confederation.